Boat-launching mechanism



May 21, 1924.

- 1,495,569 C. W. BLAKE BOAT LAUNGHING MECHANISM Filed 001;. 18, 1922 5Sheets-Sheet l k& R

abtouww May 27, 1924. -1,495.569

c. w. BLAKE BOAT LAUNCHING MECHANISM Fil d Qtl 18. 1922 5 Sheets-SheetMay 27 1924. 1,495,569

c. w. BLAKE BOAT LAUNCHING MECHANISM May 27 1924. I 1,495,569

C. W. BLAKE BOAT LAUNCHING MECHANISM Filed Oct. 18, 1922 5 snag-s e 4.

May 27 1924. 1 495569 c. w. BLAKE BOAT LAUNCHING MECHANISM Filed Oct.18, 1922 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 M o gwuentoz ortation and with-im roved meansfor si-j Patented May 27, 1924.

; UNI;T'ED STATES PATENT F F CHARLES W. BLAKE, OF PLEASANT'VILLE, NEWJERSEYQ- Y BOAT-LAUNCHI-NG MECHANISM.

Application filed October 18, 1922. Serial No. 595,329.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it'known that CHARLES W. BLAKE, a

citizen of the United States, residing at Pleasantville, inthe county ofAtlantic and State of New Jersey, has invented certain new and usefulImprovements in BOZLb',

Launching Mechanisms, of which the fol-:

with' improved means for swinging the davits outboard, controlled fromand actuated by the weight of the boat itself when manually releasedfrom the chocks;

A further object of the invention is to provide chocks which are.secured to the deck of the vessel with additional means for securing theboat rigidly and securely upon such chocks for ordinary storage andtrans- Y multaneously releasing the boat from such securing mechanismand projecting it off from the chocks, whereby the weight of the "boatexerted upon the falls actuates the mechanism which swings the davitsfrom normal to outboard position, carrying therewith the boat, so thatby thew'eight'of the boat the davits are actuated to 'swingthe boatoutboard, either with itslo'ad of passengas, or to be loaded after beingswung outboard substantially on a level with thedeck- A further objectof the invention is. to provide an improved type of manual control i forcontrolling the several agencies, instru-- .,mentalities, functions, andactivities-of the disclosed in the drawings, together with the 1claimed.

several mechanical features and structural units to be hereinafter morefully described. With these and oth'er'objectsin view, the

invention comprises certain novel parts, units, element's, mechanical.combinations, movements, functions and interrelations, as

mechanical equivalents thereof, as will be hereinafter more fullydescribed' and In the drawings: Fig. '1 is a perspective view of the iinproved boat'launching mechanism with a boat in storage or carryingposition thereon. Fig. 2 a top plan view of the boat launching mechanismwith the boat removed and the davits shown iii-section. Fig. 3 is aview, partly in side elevation and partly invertical section, of themechanism, with the-boat' shown in dotted lines,

as indicated byline 33 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4. is a perspective view of one of the chocksand its supporting andactuating accessories. 1 I

Fig. 5 is a vertical transverse sectional view takenon the line 55 ofFigsf2 and 3, with the boat shown'rigidly secured to and supported uponthe chocks. i

Fig. 6 is a similarview, with the chocks" tilted to, boat releasingposition, and the boat shown swung toward the outer position with itsweight thrownupon the falls.

Fig. 7 is a diagrammatic sectional view showing the action of the weightof the boat.

on the falls in the actuation of the davits.

Fig. 8 is a sectional view taken on line 88 of Figs, 2 and 3, showingthe initial position of the davits in full lines and'the outboardpositioned in dotted lines.

Fig. 9 is a sectional View of the modified,

type of apparatus for actuating the band I brakes.

Like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts. throughoutthe several views.

The improved boat launching mechanism which forms the subject matter ofthis ape deck of a vessel. At 10 a structure is indiplication is adaptedto be mounted upon the cated as a deck, being shown, however, in itssimplest form and not intended in any way to limit the invention, butmerely by. way of tively, or by any other usual and approved hinging orfulcrumingmeans. I g

Extendinglongitudinally between the uprights 11 and 12 is a shaft l7journalled to rotate freely when releasedin the said uprights 11 and-12.This shaftl? carries pinions 18 and 19 which respectively intermesh withsegmental racks 20 and 21 formed rigid and preferably integral,respectively,

with the davits 13 and l4, and curved as arcs illustration- Adjacent themargin of the .deckuprights 11 and 12 are mounted, .to which are pivotedrespectively davits13 and- 14 by-means of the bolts 15 and 16,respecabout the fulcrums 15am 16, so thatas the pinions 18 and 19rotate, they cause the davits 13 and 14 to swing from the normal orupright position shown in full lines at Fig. 8, to the outboard positionshown in said figure by dotted lines. 18 and 19 are rigidly secured tothe shaft 17, so that the davits 13 and14 will swing uniformly and inconsonance outwardly to swing the boat from the storage position shownat Fig. 5 along the path indicated at Fig. 6.

Mounted also'upon the shaft 17 is a brake dramas, about which is a brakeband 23. The'brake band is controlled from the manual lever 24fu'lcrumed at 25 upon the deck 10 with the latch 26, which'may' be swungupon its pivot to the position indicated as 26 in Fig; 2, torelease'said lever.

pinions 18 and 19. To efiect thisrotation of the shaft 17 and'thepinions when the brake is released, the falls 29' and 30 from the boat31 pass through blocks 32 and 33 carried by the davits and extenddownward- 1y, as at 34 and 35 and are passed about winding drums 36 and37 mounted upon the shaft17. provided for controlling the connection ofthese drums with the shaft. WVhen rigidly connected, as will normally bethe case, the weight of the boat exerted upon the sections 34 and 35 ofthefalls will be transmitted to the winding drums 36 and 37 and theweight of the boat will therefore rotate the shaft 17, and therewith thepinions 18 and weight of the boat is intended to operate at all times,it is obvious, of course, that all mechanisms are subject to failure. Incase thedavit should fail to swing properly from the action of theweight of the boat, the davit may be swung by a manual rotation of theshaft 17 by applying a crank to said shaft 'torotate the pinions 18.

To support the boat in no'rmalcarrying or storage position, spacedchocks 40 and 41 are provided supported upon the'deck, each Thesepinions I The lever 24 is preferablya bell crank lever Manual clutches38 and 39 are by a" pair of'uprights 42' rigidly secured to the deck, asindicated, with the chockspivotas indicated in the drawings, the lowerpair 45 being pivoted to the deck at 46, and the upper pair 44 pivotedto the chock 40 at 47; To the elbow joint 48 of the toggle a link 49 ispivoted at one end,'the opposite end being pivoted to an arm 50 which,in turn, is pivoted to the deck at 51. The second link 52 forms anextension of the link 49, being'siniilarly pivotedto the arm 50 at oneend, and at its1opposite end to thearm 53,'carried rigidly upon theshaft 54.

Itwill be noted, of course, that there are two of the toggle structures,as there are two of the chocks 40 and 41, only one of said structuresbeing described, the other,

being identical and provided -with. corresponding numerals. This shaft54, to which both of the arms 53 are attached, and which actuates both Iof the toggle structures; is controlled by a'manuallever' 55. A latch 56being attached to the deck, and" in the specific form shown, adapted tobe rotated upon 1ts plvot to-the position 56 to release the lever 55, sothat said lever may move from the position shown at Fig. 5 totheposition shown at Fig. 4. In the position shown at 5, the chocks 40an'd 41 are in positionto support theboat: 31 thereon, as-

sisted by'hooked extremities 57 formed upon 7 the upperends of'thesections -44 of the toggle to engage the keel 58 of the boat.

When the boat is in position upon'the choc-ks and hooks, as' shown at55, it is These chains, preferably fourin' number,

two upon the inboard and two upon the outboard side of the boat, areprovided with hooks 60 which hook over the gunwale of the boat. Theshowing inthe drawings of thesimple hooks ofL-shape is "only'by way ofillustration, and the'hooks will be contoured to conform to the shapeof'the gun- V 'wale. The chains 58 and 59 are provided witheye-bolt-s'61 which extend through the hooks 60-with nuts 62 forexerting tension and binding the boat rigidly upon the chocks. Toprovide for this tensioning by means of the nuts 62, it is necessarythat the opposite ends of the chains 58 and 59 be rigidly connected tosome rigid abutment. This connection is preferably by means of links orloops 63 and 64, attached to the 7 normal ends of the chains, which saidloops respectively engage hooks 65' and 66 'The hook 65 is formed upon,and preferably in tegral with, the arm 50, hereinbefole described, andthe hook 66 is carried by, and preferably integral'with, a similar arm67,

similarly-pivoted to the deck at 68. The

two arms 50 and 67 are connected by a link 69 so that the said arms movein unison between their limits, as shown at Figs. 5 and 6, respectively.It will be apparent that with the hooks and 66 positioned as shown atFig. 5, the loops 63 and 64 willbe retained by said hooks when the nuts62 exert :tension upon the chains 58 and 59. When the arms 50 and 67 areswung to the position shown at Fig. 6, the loops 63 and 64 are releasedand'cast off, so that the b0? 31 theretofore rigidly held in position bysaid chains 'is now released. From inspection of Figs. 5 and 6, it willbe noted that this casting off is coincidental with the tilting of thechocks 40 and 41, so that by the manipulation of the lever 55 to move itfrom the position shownat'Fig. 5 to the position shown at Fig. 6, the.chocks are lowered and tilted, the keel released, and the retainingchains are'cas't off, whereby the boat swings freely upon the falls. Ashereinbefore noted, the weight of the boat upon the falls, acting uponthe-drums 36- and 37, swings the davits 13' and 14 outboard, so that thereleasing of the two levers 55 and 24 permits the boat, by its ownweight, to release itself from restraining bonds and to swing itselfoutboard bv thetilting of the davits. Rotation of the shaft 17 willobviously swing the davits similarly outboard. whereby the boatsuspended therefrom will assume a position substantially in parallelismwith the keel or deck of the vessel; In case of inclination of the"deck, it is sometimes desirable to position the boat otherwise thanupon such parallelism. This may be accomplished by manipulation of theclutches 38 and 39, or'one of them, as oocaslon may require, whereby thefall may unwind a greater length from the drums 36or 37 ,as may berequired to properly'r 'ght the boat. The manipulation of the structureas hereinbefore described will tend to swing the boat outboard andretain it at approximately deck level, It is; obvious that. at

times it would be desirable not to maintain the boat at deck level. Forthis purpose the lever 24 may be manipulated whereby the boat may bepositioned otherwise than at. deck level as will be obvious. The otherend .of the fall, after passing through the blocks 32 and 83, pass alsothrough sheaves 70 and 71 and wind about drums 72' and 7 3. These drums72 and 73 are rigidly'mounted upon a shaft 74, with clutches 72' and 73' for maintaining said drums rigidly upon the shaft or to rotate freelyupon the shaft as occasion makes necessary ordesirable, so

- that theboat 31, now swinging outboard and righted, if necessary, bythe manipulation of the clutches 72 and 7 3, may be lowered to the waterby permitting the unreelin of the fall from the drums 72 and 73. or;controlling this unwinding a brake control 75 is rigidly connected-withthe shaft 74 and a brake band 76 passing about said drum is secured at77 to the deck, and its opposite end attached to the manual lever 78pivoted to the deck at 79. The latch 80, similar to the latches 26 and56, is also provided for maintainingthis lever 78 in position to exerttension upon the drum brake 75. It will be understood, of course, thatthe specific type of latches shown at 26 and- 56 and 80 are onlyillustrative of some means for holding the manual levers in tensionexerting position, and are no limitation upon the invention, any type oflatching or other locking means being Iully within the terms of theresent application. As shown in Fig. 9 a modified or alternative meansfor operating the band brake 76 as" i tached, is also provided withmeans for applying power here shown as the gear 81, with a pinion 82intergeared therewith, and

means for applying to said pinions, diagrammatically illustrated by themanual crank '83, it being understood, however, that any means forapplying power is within the scope of the present invention. Also, toreturn the davits 13 and 14 to their normal positions and to wind therequisite length'of' fall about the drums 36 and 37, a shaft 17 is"provided with a gear 84 with a pinion 85 intergeared therewith, andmeans for applying power, conventionally shown as the crank 86. 7 Whilethe function of these gearings are for the purposes primarily juststated, it is obvious that their utility will also extend totheactuation of the shaft 17 when it is desirable to use said shaft torotate manually the pinions 18 and 19 for the purpose of swinging thedavit outboard auxiliary to the action of the boat automaticallythereon.

To prevent any possible impedance of the proper swinging of the davitsby the rotation of the shaft 17, or the unwinding of the drums 36 and37, means is provided for releasing the shaft from the gear 84, suchmanual clutch 87.

In the operation of the device, assuming the boat to be in carryingposition, as shown at Figs. 1 to 5, and rigidly secured to the deck bymeans of the chains 58 and 59, hooked into the hooks and 66 and restingupon the chocks, the lever 55 is released by moving the latch 56. Asillustrated at Figs. 5 and 6, the swinging of this manual lever 55actuates wthe toggle to dropand tiltthe chock, also to throw the hooks55 and. 56 to cast-off position. The chains 58 and 59 now swing free ofany connection of the deck and the boat is allowed to swingoutwardly,being given an impulse in that direction by the tilting of the chock.The dropping of the boat and theoutward impulse is communicated throughthe falls to the drums 36 and 37, and by the associated shaft 17 to thepinions 18 and 19 swinging the davits from substantially vertical orupright position in the direction indicated by the arrow, so that saiddavits extend outward and beyond the deck, carrying therewith the boatsuspended therefrom. The movement may be accomplished after the boat hasbeen loaded with passengers,'or may be accomplished before loading, inwhich case the boat is retained at substantially deck level for loading.In case of inclination or uneven keel of the vessel, the keel of theboatis righted by a manipulation of either of the clutches 38 or 39.After this, the lever 8 is released from its latch 80, loosening thebrake band 76 from the brake drum 7 5,

whereupon the weight of the boat, acting.

through the fall, rotates the shaft 74, and the drums 7 2 and 73 unwindsufficient length of the fall to lower the boat to the water. This beingaccomplished, the fall is, of course, cast off from the boat and theboat rowed away. It is sometimes desirable toreturn the boat to thedeck, and in other cases, it is desirable to return the launchingmechanism to initial position for the launching of a second boat. Thefirst step in this, either simply to return the mechanism to launchingposition, or to return the boat to the deck, is to actuate the drums 72and 73. In the particular type of mechanism shown this is brought aboutby manipulating'the lever 83, but it is to be understood that any powermay be substituted for the manual crank. The boat or tackle having beenraised substantially to deck level, thefurther rotation of the drums 72and 7 3 is discontinued and the drums are locked I by tightening thebrakeband 76. The requisite length of fall is now wound upon the drums36 and 37 and the davits returned to upright position by actuating theshaft 17. In the specific type of structure shown in the drawing, thisis through the medium of the manual crank 86, but it is to be understoolthat power from any source may be substituted for this manual crank. Ifthe boat is still attached to the. falls, the boat is 1 swung inboardwith the righting of the. davits. If no boat is attached," the loweringtackle is swung inboard in position to be attached to another boat, tobe launched in like manner. a

lVhat I claim and. desire to secureby Letters Patent, is

1. A boatlaunching mechanism-comprise. ing fulcrumed davits,.means tosupport. aboat between the davits, a rotatable shaft'f arranged adjacentthedavits, falls from the boat connected with the davits... andiwithflgthe rotatable shaft, means to lower the boat; supportingmechanism, meansto employ the stress exerted upon the falls by thelowering of the boat,to. rotate. the shaft, and.

means to utilize the rotation of said shaft to swing the; davitstooutboard position. i

to exert the stress of the falls 'to rotate said davit swinging,mechanism. 7 r

3. A boat launching mechanism comprismg spaced davits, a boat supportingstructure located between the davits, connected V winding drums, asecond setof winding drums, blocks carried at the extremities of thedavits, falls extending from. the boat through the blocks, the oppositeendsof the falls being wound about the fi'rst and second nameddrumsrespectively, means to lower the boat supporting mechanism and. impeltheboat toward outboard position,

means to employ the weight of the released boat to rotate said secondmentioned drums,

thereby swinging the davits to outboard position, and manual means forcontrolling the rotation of bothsets of drums.

4. A boat launching mechanism, comprising davits, segmental racksassociated with sald davits, pin ons engaging the segmental racks, ashaft connectingthe pinions, boat I supporting mechanism] positionedbetween thedavits, blocks carried at the extremities of the davits,fallsextendingfrom the boat through said blocks.- to actuate said shaftand means to lower said boat supporting;

mechanism.

5. A boat launching mechanism, comprising spaced davits pivoted to swingto outboard position, segmental racks carried by said davits, concentricwith their pivoting. pinions engaging the segmental racks, a shaftconnecting the pinions, a drum mounted upon the shaft, blocks carried attheex tremities of the davits, boat supporting mechanisnr disposed 1between the" davits, falls extending from the boat through'said blocksand wound upon said drum, and means to lower said boat supportingmechanism to exert the stress of the falls upon the drum to rotate thepinions and swing the davits outboard.

6. A boat launching mechanism, comprising spaced fulcrumed davits, ashaft journaled adjacent the davits, winding drums carried upon theshaft, a manual brake mechanism for controlling rotation of the shaftand drums, boat supporting mechanism interposed between the davits, asecond shaft, means carried by the second shaft for swinging the davitsoutboard, blocks v carried at the extremities of the davits, fallsconnected with the boat and passing through means for releasing thesecond mentioned shaft when subjected to the stress of the boat, toemploy said stress to swing the davits outboard, and manual means forcontrolling the rotation of the first mentioned shaft to lower the boatafter swinging to said outboard position.

In testimony whereof he aflixes his signature.

CHARLES W. BLAKE.

